Creating a "New Normal"

These are my bathing place, bedroom, and kitchen.

I've been here in the Mindolo section of Kitwe, at the United Church of Zambia Theological College, for a week now. The jetlag has worn off and I'm feeling like mind and body are together in the same place. I'm learning to live without some of the modern conveniences I'm used to (like hot running water, and a stove with multiple heat settings), but enjoying having cleaning and laundry help and wireless internet in my apartment, since I am right next to the Library. I can only get to the market once a week on Saturdays when a colleague takes some of us to town in her truck (ah, the joy of riding in the back of a pickup truck --- not something we get to do at home any more). And I have to cook all my own food. No pizza, or chinese, or being able to stop by Geissler's for soup if I don't feel like cooking.

My apartment is simple, but very adequate. The bed is comfortable and the place is very clean. I take sponge baths from a large basin after boiling successive tea kettles of water to fill it. I feel grateful all my camping and boating experiences, which have mostly prepared me for this. After some initial feelings of dislocation, I seem to be adapting quite well.

Going to market on Saturday was fun. We started with the open air market for vegetables and fruit. No bargaining. The prices were clearly marked. But it was also a big help that I went with Ann, a long term volunteer missionary with Global Ministries and Margaret, a new friend from Kenya who is studying at the Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation. I got green beans, carrots, onions, garlic, apples, oranges, bananas, potatos, sweet potatoes among other things.

Then on to Shoprite (yes, Shoprite), a large grocery store with just about anything you could want. I was able to find lots of good food, and even Heineken beer brewed in Namibia. I'm also adding some items to the inventory in my apartment, since it was only recently converted from offices to living space. Adding some hangers, a sharp knife and a large pot, among other things, made a lot of difference.

This is all good, but to create context, I also need to say that when we took all our stuff to the truck there were children begging (politely) for food. We gave them a little something. And I also had to be living in the reality of my relative wealth compared to just about everyone around. More about this later, but part of the "new normal" is living right in the midst of deep poverty. While I am comfortable and safe, I also have been visiting people who don't have enough to eat, less than a mile away, and really right next door.

I am also making friends both among the ex-patriates here, and the staff and students at the Theological College. I have several invitations to dinner coming up, and had a lovely dinner with the Principal of the College and some faculty when I arrived. He had deliberately chosen to have local foods, so I have had my first taste of Zambian cuisine, which is tasty and good. Chicken, fish, nshima (a maize paste made into thick pancakes and dipped in various gravies), pumpkin leaves chopped up and boiled with a little seasoning, leaves from bean plants chopped and cooked in a peanut sauce [reminded me of especially delicious creamed spinach] and rice with vegetables and potatoes. I couldn't eat it all! But tasted everything. And we spent time watching CNN and BBC on TV. Lots of people have satellite dishes, and they are very aware of what's going on in the world --- and have some pointed questions about the US.....The people are lovely and welcoming. I have met with students several times this week to speak on the topics of Global Christianity and Interfaith Dialogue. We have also touched on life in the church in the US, ways that churches interact with the political system to advocate for justice, ecumenism. And general discussion of our lives. The students are bright and curious, an dare receiving excellent education, judging by the classes I have sat in on as well.

As I write this on Thursday afternoon, I can hear a choir practicing nearby. Sometimes it's a brass band. In the morning there's at least one rooster crowing, although happily not too close. I can hear children playing, and often the sound of the horns at the copper mine nearby. It sounds like the train whistle that blows about block from my house in Bloomfield. The sounds are not that different here, except maybe for the rooster....... and much less traffic. Contrary to stereotype, there are fewer bugs in my house than at home (except for the teeny tiny ants that are the cleanup crew in the kitchen). It is the cool, dry season, (winter) so the weather is very comfortable. 50's at night and 70's during the day.

I have been welcomed into the morning chapel services (6:45am!!!) and have preached twice and taught some new songs. Attended Sunday worship at the Mindolo United Church of Zambia Congregation, and will be preaching there and serving Communion this Sunday Aug 1. And am invited to preach at the church of another faculty member on August 8. In some ways, my sabbatical is over --- all of my pastoral i nstincts are coming back --- and I'm functioning as a Pastor/Reverend here.

The women of the Mindolo church are embracing me, which I will post about next, along with more detail on the Theological College. And people keep calling me "Mother", since the role of the Pastor here is very parental. What do you think the First Congregational Church in Bloomfield will think about that????

So, this is some of my new normal. A warm and interesting community. Lots to adjust to, and also much Grace! One week down, and three to go. I'm sure they will fly!

Getting Acclimated

Well, I'm here. The travel itself was easy --- 15 hours on the plane JFK to Johannesburg, with an empty seat beside me. In less than a day, I changed continents and seasons. A far cry from our ancestors who would have taken months. The connection to Ndola, Zambia, was too close to our arrival time, so I stayed at a hotel near the airport (booked at a discount through Expedia.com) that had a free shuttle from the airport and huge free breakfast. I think this was a good thing, as it gave me a day to regroup and still feel like I was in the West. Also took the opportunity for a tour of Soweto and Johannesburg arranged through the hotel. Two other guests, Polish men going on safari, also came, so it was me, our Zulu guide named Elias and these two very pleasant guys, one of whom spoke very good English.



Soweto is huge and has everything from Shantytowns to very nice homes, lots of history of the fight to end apartheid. We went to a Shantytown, and Elias told us that guides used to just drive through the towns talking to their guests as they went. But then some of the people of the community started insisting that they wanted to be the ones to lead the tours (seems like great self-empowerment to me). So we were met at the outskirts by a young man names Cat, who lead us down the dirt road while telling us about life there. The people have all come from other parts of the country seeking a better life. And of course it's not better. They live in tiny shacks with no running water, sanitation or electricity. There are spigots at intervals throughout the area with potable water, and the government built outhouses with underground tanks, but then didn't come to pump them out. So those people who have jobs pay to have them pumped when they can. All the children go to school. Soweto seems filled with schools of one kind and another, and Cat reported and our guide affirmed that education is viewed as the way out.



I was having powerful flashbacks to time spent in Soacha, one of the shantytowns of Bogota, Colombia. Same story, same reality, although we weren't told of the kind of organized violence in Soweto that was so great a force in Soacha. I was very conscious of how different it was to visit this place as just a regular tourist. Not part of an organized delegation, not visiting a paartner NGO or church organization. And these folks were not very organized --- just commuity people doing the start of community organizing. I found myself encouraging Cat to continue to take power of his life and help his people claim power over their own lives. They need to get organized. My sense was that he had not heard that message from visitors before. He also claimed that there were not NGO's or church groups working is his area. The woman whose house we visited, when I asked what I should tell my friends, family and church, couldn't think of anything. This is a big contrast to the organized advocacy I've experienced before.



And this is the real world. They made it plain that no money was required, but that they would accept any free offerings. Of course we each contributed something. It was about consciousness raising, but on some level was really about the money. And that seemed OK to me. They need it, I have it and we made a trade.



We also went to "the Top of Africa", which is the tallest building on the continent at 50 stories tall. While riding up in the elevator, I was able to hear simultanous conversations in Polish and Zulu --- not something that happens every day!

Thursday morning I boarded plane for Ndola, Zambia and arrived at dusty little airport to find that my ride hadn't arrived. A very nice man in the airport office let me use his cell phone to call the school Principal, who I reached to find that he was running late. He told me to wait in the little restaurant, which I did. What a remarkable variety of people coming through this place. It was an upgraded quonset hut and I had a cup pf tea while I waited. (I wasn't hungry because, unlike the US, we were served as very nice lunch on the plane. This seems to be true everywhere but the US. Indian airlines did the same thing.)

So, I was picked up by Musonda Bwalya, who is the(very impressive) principal of the College, got Kwachas from the ATM, arrived at the United Church of Zambia Theological College safe and sound. And so far am getting settled in a very different environment than I am used to. But more about that later.

Going to Africa to beat the Heat!

We always hold stereotypes of places and people that are unfamiliar, so my friends and family have been surprised to hear that the weather in Zambia will be cooler than here right now. It's winter south of the equator, and Kitwe is about 4,000 feet above sea level. So during the day it will be in the 70's and at night in the 50's. With the weather we've been having in New England, I'm ready to cool down, although traveling thousands of miles away seems a bit extreme. ....



The real reason for going to Zambia is to serve as short term volunteer mission personnel at the
United Church of Zambia Theological College in Kitwe, Zambia, which is in the Northern part of Zambia. I will be teaching two courses, one on Global Christianity from an American perspective, and one on Interfaith Dialogue. Since I only found out what I'd be teaching a few days ago,I'm really scrambling to put materials together. Thanks to the internet, that's not as hard as it used to be. And I can carry information on a thumb drive or my laptop rather than lugging piles of books along.



I'll also have the chance to travel some and to meet many people and experience African Christianity by immersion. I'm excited! Will write more later, but wanted to get this started before I go.



More later! Deb